Do The Mathtag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-866746696483858032015-03-26T04:30:55-07:00Interviews, Criticism, BlogTypePadNew Newstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a01348156fe55970c01b8d0f54987970c2015-03-26T04:30:55-07:002015-03-26T04:32:20-07:00The latest Floyd Camembert Reports just went out, including notes on upcoming gigs with John Raymond and Seamus Blake/Chris Cheek. There's also a bit about Going Clear by Lawrence Wright and my own tale of working with Scientologists in the early '90s. I got a personal letter from Chick Corea....Ethan Iverson

The latest Floyd Camembert Reports just went out, including notes on upcoming gigs with John Raymond and Seamus Blake/Chris Cheek. There's also a bit about Going Clear by Lawrence Wright and my own tale of working with Scientologists in the early '90s. I got a personal letter from Chick Corea. (True story!)

Espionage Encyclopediatag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a01348156fe55970c01b7c76aefeb970b2015-03-25T07:12:48-07:002015-03-25T07:15:40-07:00Yesterday I blogged about Skinner by Charlie Huston. In the very first chapter, Huston references Eric Ambler, which informs the reader that this is going to be a thriller with a political theme. It's a nice touch. (DTM: Come Out of the Darkness Into the Light of Day.) I've now...Ethan Iverson

I've now just finished the brand new All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer. Early on, a lead character is next to a woman reading Len Deighton on a plane. Steinhauer's plot is not really that much like Deighton's Berlin Game, but there are some related ideas including a romance/espionage partnership and a key airport crisis. Even chatting with someone on plane who gives up information is rather Deighton-ish. On the other hand, the last page is pure Le Carré.

Good work from Steinhauer. I've read the Tourist trilogy and found the characters more interesting than the Jason Bourne "badass assassin" playbook. With All the Old Knives there are no action heroes in sight, and the book is all the better for it. Highly recommended for espionage buffs.

Crowd Controltag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a01348156fe55970c01b8d0f3acbb970c2015-03-24T06:44:38-07:002015-03-24T07:26:16-07:00I’ve just reread Skinner by Charlie Huston. It remains one of my favorite thrillers of recent years. Although the book ends up being a powerful warning about the current condition, along the way the reader enjoys varied vicarious thrills including much current technology: drone quadcopters, plastic guns manufactured by 3D...Ethan Iverson

I’ve just reread Skinner by Charlie Huston. It remains one of my favorite thrillers of recent years. Although the book ends up being a powerful warning about the current condition, along the way the reader enjoys varied vicarious thrills including much current technology: drone quadcopters, plastic guns manufactured by 3D printers, mobile robot surveillance spiders.

During an energy conference in Sweden, angry protesters confront something new on four wheels:

A new siren rises and fills the square, bounding off the faces of the tall buildings. A warning that something large and powerful is coming. At the far end of the square the police line splits open and a towering blue and high-viz truck, unholy product of a mating between a double-decker bus and a fully armored Humvee, rolls through, two water cannons above a high cab, windows covered by steel screens, a broad cow catcher mounted up front.

I sort of blew by that passage the first time, but on the second go I stopped and thought for a moment, then hit google.

Don't see Carat's armored water cannons there, but Alpine Armoring and IAG have you covered.

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When flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, one of the logical questions was, "What was the gear?" Investigators decided it was a Buk SA-11 missile.

On YouTube, there was already a rockin' video of the missile system in action. It's not totally clear to me if this video is an ad created by the company or simply the work of a rabid fan. At any rate the manufacturer is easy enough to find: Almaz - Antey, who have the slogan, "High Technologies Safeguarding Peaceful Skies."

After MH17, I'm sure the military leaders of every country watched the YouTube video and picked up the phone to call Almaz - Antey. High-tech armament is notoriously fussy and unreliable, but now there was proof that the Buk SA-11 was a solid investment.

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CNN anchor Rosemary Church was first criticized then fired for suggesting the use of water cannons in Ferguson. But what was used eventually was even more shocking. Questions were asked everywhere about the high-tech military gear. Where the heck did all that stuff even come from, anyway?

The answer was Homeland Security grants and the Defense Department's 1033 program. If you are a small-time small town police chief, don't worry, you can still afford fun toys!

I've spent some time reading about Bozeman's debate about their new BearCat. They are keeping it, unfortunately: Apparently the tearful pleas from the cop's wives at the town hall meeting sealed the deal.

Before the vote went down, Blake Maxwell at the Bozeman Magpie offered some clear-eyed commentary on what this kind of machine means for communities. I particularly admire Maxwell's lead paragraph about the word "rescue." (That word is painted on the side of Bozeman's BearCat above. Photo stolen from Bozeman Daily Chronicle.)

The prevalent usage of rescue in the media now is lipstick on a warhorse, just 11th-hour spin, and the city manager’s unflagging repetition of it has become an insult to our intelligence. The BearCat has a turret and at least 10 different “gun ports.” This vehicle wasn’t designed for handing out medical supplies or basic human necessities; it was built for killing.

Richter at 100tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a01348156fe55970c01b8d0f16af2970c2015-03-21T09:32:43-07:002015-03-24T04:13:44-07:00At the masterclass with Ron Carter yesterday in Hartford, I mentioned the Sviatoslav Richter centennial, saying something the effect that Richter may have been the greatest 20th-century classical pianist. Ron interrupted me right away: "Yeah, but don't forget Walter Gieseking." Fair enough. There are lots of wonderful classical pianists. Comparing...Ethan Iverson

At the masterclass with Ron Carter yesterday in Hartford, I mentioned the Sviatoslav Richter centennial, saying something the effect that Richter may have been the greatest 20th-century classical pianist. Ron interrupted me right away: "Yeah, but don't forget Walter Gieseking."

Fair enough. There are lots of wonderful classical pianists. Comparing them is usually pointless. I respect anybody who is genuinely competent in that esoteric profession.

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Still, something about Richter sticks out. After Ron's interjection, I've been mulling over why I think Richter is so great.

My conclusion is rather obvious: Richter was of his time. He was 20th-century. He was an unrepentant modernist.

Everything that Richter played was informed by world war, by atonality, by Freud, by airplane travel, by recorded sound. The horrors and delights of his era were always present.

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The vast Richter discography is complicated further by multiple versions of key pieces. One would need an extra lifetime to study the complete Richter on CD.

Off the top of my head, a selection of personal favorites:

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Bach. From WTC II, the A minor prelude and fugue from the Phillips studio set. The prelude is somber (his teacher Heinrich Neuhaus suggested that especially chromatic Bach be played "without tone"), the crucifixion fugue strikes like a bolt of lightning.

Handel. Richter mentored several young musicians. When he got interested in the young and brilliant Andrei Gavrilov, Richter had them alternate on Handel suites. Nobody plays these suites on piano much - harpsichordists have a better chance - but hearing them as tag-team performance art makes them more accessible. On video, Richter starts the familiar "Harmonious Blacksmith" with the loudest, ugliest, longest low E imaginable. Before continuing, he stares at Gavrilov, who looks around the room in an unconcerned or even dour fashion. Russian modernist art, via Handel.

Beethoven. A key composer for Richter. It's all great. My offhand selection is a less-familiar sonata, the two-movement Op. 54 in F major on EMI. The opening minuet has gleaming sonority and ornamentation. Perhaps the octave outbursts are almost too loud, but that's Richter for you. The answering toccata goes like the wind. A perfect work and perfect for Richter.

Since Ludvig was so important to Slava, I'll offer one more: the live Diabelli Variations on Phillips, rather late, I think 1980's. Even the out-of-tune piano seems to play a part in declaiming a passionate message. This was my first Richter record and my first Diabelli; frankly I find almost everyone else pretty boring.

Weber. I believe Horowitz was the one who started the fashion of looking for classical-era pieces by Clementi and other minor composers. Not to be outdone, Emil Gilels played some Clementi better than Horowitz and also added Weber's second sonata. Richter's retaliated by unearthing the Weber third. It's a powerful enough work, especially under Richter's strong hands. The point is clear: If we listen to Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, we should listen to Clementi, Weber, Dussek, Hummel, and Czerny as well.

Schubert. Richter may still be somewhat controversial in long sonatas where he takes unusually slow tempos. I understand the objection; frankly I'd usually rather relax with Clifford Curzon or Wilhelm Kempff myself. On the studio recording of the intimate Allegretto in C minor D915, Richter's speed is more "Largo" than "Allegretto" but the emotion is starkly compelling. I'm not so sure of Schubert's awkward counterpoint in the brief canonic section, but if you can hear it "à la Shostakovich" that certainly helps!

Chopin. Richter played lots of Chopin but for me it can be like his Mozart, either too brutal or too straight. In the centennial celebrations I have seen several mentions of his performances of Chopin Ballades. This surprises me, I will have to go back and re-listen.

My Richter Chopin selection is an obvious one: On the essential documentary Richter the Enigma the only complete performances are of Chopin études. The earlier performance of the C sharp minor Op. 10 is white heat. Chopin would have been astonished to hear the 20th century in action with all of its brutal power. The later era étude is the "Winter Wind" in A minor. Here we can see the ultimate professional: An old man who has played thousands of recitals casually sits down and delivers this classic fingerbuster.

Schumann. One of the great LPs in my collection is the recital of César Franck and Robert Schumann on Monitor. I believe Schumann's Humoreske was barely played until Richter discovered it for modern audiences. You want to talk about your modernist pieces! The Humoreske doesn't make sense unless you have a grotesque, occasionally almost military aesthetic. The rhythms are also exceedingly complex and a technical challenges formidable. Richter solves all interpretive issues.

Brahms. The pianist didn't like his recording of the Second Piano Concerto with Leinsdorf in Boston. It's true that there are some really notable finger slips. However, like so many others, I am bowled over by the recording's raw passion. The first two moments are especially marvelous.

Liszt. The Liszt selection is obvious, the étude "Feux Follets" from at the legendary Sofia recital from 1958. It's not just the speed, it's the sonority which is so magical.

Franck. From the Monitor LP mentioned earlier, Prelude, Chorale and Fugue is the dead intersection between German and French music. There's a whiff of the sentimental and the falsely religious about this work, something like Busoni's plumped up transcriptions of Bach. However I never have a problem with this aesthetic if a truly great pianist is in residence. I can't imagine anyone playing this work better than Slava does here.

Debussy. Again for me an obvious choice: Estampes, the live recording from early 60s on DG. Somehow the piano sounds just like the gamelan Debussy was inspired by.

Hindemith. Apparently the composer himself didn't think much of his Suite 1922. I don't know why: For me, it's his best piano piece. I admit I am probably influenced by Richter's phenomenal recording from late in life. He beats the piano into submission but in this context that is perfectly okay.

Tchaikovsky's solo piano music is frequently trivial; however, the Grand Sonata in G becomes a major work in Richter's hands.

Mussorgsky's Pictures of An Exhibition from the 1958 Sofia recital is Richter 101, frequently showing up on lists of "the best piano records ever made."

I don't know Slava's many famous Scriabin recordings as well as I should. These days when I listen to Scriabin, I'm probably listening to Sofroninsky. One hopes that the familiar anecdote is true: When the pianists met, Sofroninsky greeted the other, "Genius!" to which Richter shot back, "God!"

Richter knew both Shostakovich and Prokofiev and his biography is often focused on those associations.

While not so familiar with either of these composers nor Richter's contribution to their discographies, I am impressed with the Shostakovich Piano Quintet which shows Richter's sublime abilities as a chamber musician. The insane brilliance of the Prokofiev Second Sonata is also inarguable.

Prokofiev 2 was composed just before Richter was born. Its mechanized ironies are totally of the 20th century, and was totally understood by the pianist when he learned it a couple of decades later. This aesthetic was Richter's birthright.

As significant as Shostakovich and Prokofiev are as composers, something else may have been even more important to the young Slava than the music itself: Actually working with great composers, seeing how they made new music that related intimately to current events. Richter somehow took that attitude along when exploring the whole history of piano repertoire, making everything he touched modern, exciting, and sad.

Richter didn't record much Stravinsky. The most intriguing item is the piano concerto Movements. This is arguably Stravinsky's most recondite piece, and it shows just how curious Richter was about everything that he gave this unfriendly beast a try.

I want to conclude on an up note, so let's end with Rachmaninoff.

In general Richter was an ideal Rachmaninoff interpreter. It would be hard to make a list of recommended Rachmaninoff recordings without Richter in there somewhere.

Was Rachmaninoff a truly great composer? I'm not sure; many others wonder this question as well. But perhaps because Rach always isn't the very best music, there is extra room for re-creative genius to take over and deliver a melding of composer and interpreter.

The collection of Preludes and Etudes-Tableux on Olympia from 1971 and 1983 is essential for any piano library. Four tracks come to mind right away: The heraldic B-flat major, the proto-Prokofiev F sharp minor, the Tolstoy carriage of B minor, and the Etude 7 in C minor, the one that unleashes a great torrent of bells near the end. The bells seem joyous at first, but then it becomes clear that happiness will be denied. The bells mark the passage of time, and mourn both the loss of old Russia and the birth of the 20th century.

Donna and Martatag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a01348156fe55970c01b8d0ea1e11970c2015-03-12T06:28:05-07:002015-03-12T07:47:29-07:00So much going on...I meant to include these last night on DTM. --- Donna Lewis, major pop star and singer/songwriter, has a new album out Brand New Day with Reid, Dave and me. It's produced by David Torn, who also wrote the arrangements, which is why we aren't calling ourselves...Ethan Iverson

So much going on...I meant to include these last night on DTM.

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Donna Lewis, major pop star and singer/songwriter, has a new album out Brand New Day with Reid, Dave and me. It's produced by David Torn, who also wrote the arrangements, which is why we aren't calling ourselves TBP for this one -- it can't really be TBP if I'm playing someone else's piano parts, as cool as Torn's are!

Donna and David were a dream to work with, and the resulting album is also dreamy to listen to. I brought it over to some friends for a listen and they went crazy for it. I suspect it will do very well indeed. If you are a collector of all things Iversonian, this is your chance to hear me as a pop pianist. I'm not gonna replace Rick Wakeman or Mike Garson on a list of major figures, but I admit it's got an interesting feel.

I always count my blessings to be associated with Reid Anderson and David King, and they really sound great on this record, too. Wow. A deep pocket.

Thanks Donna for giving us this opportunity! See you on the Grammys or something.

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Speaking of Reid, I was reminded of our long history with Spain when Marta Sanchez asked me to write the liner notes for her new album Partenika. While listening, I flashed back to all the music I'd played or heard connected to Fresh Sound/New Talent records. One of the best is surely Reid's The Vastness of Space. Just like Vastness, Partenika has two intertwining saxophones.

I wrote in the notes:

Indeed, Sanchez’s music, while undeniably personal, stems directly out of a lot of the Spanish/New York music documented on Fresh Sound in recent decades. Thanks not just to Marta Sanchez and band for the sounds, but also to Jordi Pujol for documenting this vital evolution.

Marta's group plays tonight at Jazz Gallery for the record release show. The band is:

The Eyes Have Ittag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a01348156fe55970c01bb08041b62970d2015-03-11T19:07:45-07:002015-03-12T06:36:39-07:00My god, what are those first three guitar chords at the top of "I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Flamingos? That's so my kind of music. --- Jaleel Shaw has stepped up his game further with a long and exceptionally valuable post, "Black History, Black Culture, Black Audiences,...Ethan Iverson

My god, what are those first three guitar chords at the top of "I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Flamingos? That's so my kind of music.

The Whiplash page is updated with a link to Jaleel's post. Very special thanks to Jaleel Shaw for this contribution.

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Miles Okazaki has just published a book, Fundamentals of Guitar. If I was a guitar player I'd certainly be immersed. Miles is brilliant and far-reaching, ancient to the future.

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Sarah Deming wrote a humorous story from our marriage for The Threepenny Review, "Dirty Laundry." Uh oh.

Spinning Wheeltag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a01348156fe55970c01b7c75e8960970b2015-03-09T20:45:31-07:002015-03-10T02:14:38-07:00RIP Lew Soloff. One of my first CDs ever was Speak Low, a (currently rather rare) straight-ahead set with Kenny Kirkland, Richard Davis, and Elvin Jones. Clips of this quintessentially late-'80s date can still be heard on the late trumpeter's website. --- Happy 85 years to Ornette Coleman. A few...Ethan Iverson

Happy 85 years to Ornette Coleman. A few years ago I played around with anagramming the master's name:

Tentacle Monroe

Create Melt Noon

Calmer Tone Note

Romance Let Note

Oracle Omen Tent

Locate Term Neon

Nectar Lemon Toe

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More Drum Thing: Writing for the internet can always be enhanced by feedback. The great saxophonist Jaleel Shaw weighed in. I've added to post, but also here 'tis, so you don't need to scroll down on the big page....

More Whiplashtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a01348156fe55970c01b7c75965fc970b2015-03-04T07:30:56-08:002015-03-04T07:37:33-08:00It's hard to get everything right in a big DTM post. I need an intern to double-check facts and figures! Anyway, if you only saw "The Drum Thing" in the first 30 minutes, it's been since updated slightly thanks to minor corrections by Jason Gutharz, Miles Okazaki, Darcy James Argue,...Ethan Iverson
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>It's hard to get everything right in a big DTM post. I need an intern to double-check facts and figures! Anyway, if you only saw <a href="http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/the-drum-thing.html" target="_self">"The Drum Thing"</a> in the first 30 minutes, it's been since updated slightly thanks to minor corrections by Jason Gutharz, Miles Okazaki, Darcy James Argue, Noah Baerman and Dan Tepfer. Thanks readers!</p>
<p>At the end, there is a substantial addition.&nbsp;Here 'tis, so you don't need to scoll down on the big page:</p>
<p><em>UPDATE: In the wake of this post, I received the following email from Russell Scarbrough&nbsp;with many more interesting details about Hank Levy, "Whiplash," and Buddy Rich. Russell agreed to let me post it here.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.russellscarbrough.com/" target="_self">http://www.russellscarbrough.com/</a></em></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Hi Ethan,</p>
<p>This whole&nbsp;<em>Whiplash</em>&nbsp;thing has brought back a lot of memories!</p>
<p>Hank Levy was a very inspiring, gentle guy, so very much different than the guy in the movie. He was very well known in jazz ed circles in the 70's &amp; 80's through his association with Stan Kenton &amp; Don Ellis, but not much of a self-promoter, so a lot of the things he was into just sort of disappeared.</p>
<p>I studied composition with Hank at Towson State from '90-'94, and played in the band there the whole time. We played only his charts (which we all loved). Many were the odd-meter charts he wrote for Ellis and Kenton - which is what he's known for almost exclusively - but he also had tons of quite innovative arrangements of standards which are practically unknown.</p>
<p>Quite a bit of the rock-oriented stuff those bands were doing (including Buddy, Kenton, Ellis, as well as Woody Herman, et al) were at the very strong suggestion of their management and record labels. Don Ellis's <em>Connection</em>&nbsp;album, for instance, was really a scandal among the arrangers who all felt strong-armed into doing assigned pop charts. For a time, they also thought odd meters were the way everything was going to go, so Buddy's management thought he should get some of that. So some calls were made, and Hank was asked to write something for Buddy's band.</p>
<p>Hank came up with a chart in 7/4 called "Ven-Zu-Wailin", an Afro-Cuban kind of tune, and sent it out to LA. The story goes that Buddy didn't really read charts. When a new arrangement came along, Buddy hired a session drummer to read down the chart in rehearsal with the band while he listened, then he would take over and he'd have it memorized (so the story goes).</p>
<p>Apparently this time (late 60's), the session drummer couldn't really get the feel, and the figures and set-ups were all over the place, and it just wasn't working. The record company guys were there (guess they wanted to record soon), and Buddy tries to play it anyway, and he doesn't get the feel either. So in a rage, he grabs the chart off the stand and flings it across the room and lets it be known what he thinks about odd meters (your imagination can fill in the blanks there).</p>
<p>So whenever I showed up for lessons with Hank, I would see the framed letter up on the wall of his office on Pacific Jazz letterhead, saying we're so sorry, but "Ven-Zu-Wailin" was "a little too different" for Buddy and the band, and they were returning the chart, we hope you find a good home for it, sincerest apologies, etc. And this crumpled-up chart came in the package with it. Hank LOVED that story.</p>
<p>Too bad, cause that probably would have sounded great. Hank later re-wrote in 4/4 and we recorded it - it was a burning chart.</p>
<p>We did play "Whiplash" all the time with Hank. It was one of the best-recorded charts of his, and Ralph Humphrey had a lot to do with that, but Ellis's band in general was much better on Hank's tunes than the Kenton band, which was frankly terrible (except when Peter Erskine was in the band). I haven't seen the movie to know if they played it, but the back half of that chart is written in 14/8, because the subdivision is 223322 - a really nice-feeling pattern that Hank said explicitly came from Bulgarian music, and which he used fairly often. Those different subdivisions of the asymmetrical meters are what has been lost lately outside of world music stuff, but Hank and Ellis were very interested in that. A lot of their most interesting experiments in that were never recorded, but we did some of those things - big band charts with 2 drum sets playing in different subdivisions at the same time, for instance.</p>
<p>We also played a lot of straight-ahead swinging in 5, 7, and other asymmetrical meters. Not 5/4 as in the "waltz+2" feel of "Take Five," but just 5-on-the-floor swinging. Hank's "Chain Reaction" for Ellis has a blistering straight-ahead 13 section for pianist Milcho Leviev to blow over (not long enough, but enough to prove that it can be done, and done well). He also had a few things that were overt homages to the Basie style, but in 5/4. I don't hear much of that kind of thing lately, though in some quarters odd meters are otherwise ubiquitous.</p>
<p>In regards to the substance of your post, it would be an interesting comparison to look at the elaborate "drum routines" of the Don Ellis band, which were virtuosic for sure, vs the vaudeville-like solos of Rich. Personally I find Rich's solos repetitive and hackneyed at best, and a true annoyance at worst. On the&nbsp;<em>Roar of '74</em>&nbsp;album, which is a fantastic band playing really great arrangements, he basically plays a drum solo throughout every every tune, even where the charts have space to breathe built in - he just bashes right through. And then plays another solo at the end. If you ever want to see Bill Holman roll his eyes and shake his head ruefully, ask him about the charts he sent Buddy, and how they turned out on the record.</p>
<p>The genius of Mel Lewis is the perfect antidote to Rich-ophilia.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Best Regards,<br />Russell Scarbrough</p>
</blockquote></div>
Blood on the Drumstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a01348156fe55970c01b7c7575efa970b2015-03-02T06:20:51-08:002015-03-02T06:20:51-08:00New DTM pages: The Drum Thing, or, A Brief History of Whiplash, or, "I'm Generalizing Here" and a guest post by Mark Stryker, Traps, the Drum Wonder. --- Reminder, sign up for Floyd Camembert Reports if you want Iversonian spam about gigs etc. Tootie Heath w. Ben and me at...Ethan Iverson

Tootie Heath w. Ben and me at Vanguard this week and Philadelphia Beat (nice NY Times review with amusing photo). Webpage update with other photos and Hyland Harris commentary. Also Tootie's masterclass on Saturday. (Details below)

Floyd Camembert Reports (Moving to Email Newsletter)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a01348156fe55970c01b8d0dd00f8970c2015-02-24T12:25:29-08:002015-02-25T05:46:25-08:00Aw, what a nice thing Tim Wilkins has written about Philadelphia Beat for WBGO, where you can stream tracks as well. Damn. "Bag's Groove" sounds pretty good even if I say so myself. Tootie Heath DTM page updated with Beat photos and extraordinary commentary by Hyland Harris. The band is...Ethan Iverson